How to Choose the Best Gaming Mouse

When it comes to choosing a gaming mouse, it’s easy to get sidetracked by marketing fluff. An incredibly high DPI and the latest sensor might sound like they’ll elevate your game to the next level, but in reality, there are more important things to consider.

You should be most concerned by the overall shape and weight of the mouse. Then, in order of relevance, comes the buttons, the DPI, the sensor and everything else. We'll explain ourselves below.

Why are shape and weight so important?

The shape and weight of your mouse – that is, the overall build of it – are directly related to how well you will perform in your favourite FPS/MMORPG/MOBA. The wrong build will feel unnatural and uncomfortable and may exacerbate mouse-related injuries.

The shape that suits you will depend largely on your mouse grip. Here’s how to work out which grip you use:

1. Place your hand on your mouse.

2. If your entire hand (palm and fingers) is resting on the surface of the mouse, you have a palm grip.

3.If your palm is elevated, and only your fingertips touch the mouse, you have a fingertip grip.

4.If the rear of your palm touches the mouse surface, and your fingers are visibly arched rather than flat against the mouse, you have a claw grip.

How many buttons do I need?

If you’re a Call of Duty/Battlefield/Counter Strike player, you’ll be happy with the standard two additional buttons mounted on the side of the mouse, plus a third dedicated DPI adjuster button (usually found below the scroll wheel).

Avid League of Legends or World of Warcraft players, however, will benefit from additional side-mounted buttons. Almost all modern mice come with PC-based software, so you can bind item slots or abilities to those extra buttons and keep your keyboard hand free for the important task of moving.

What is DPI, and how much do I need?

DPI, or dots per inch (also known as counts per inch, or Mickeys per second) is a measure of how far your mouse cursor moves on the screen when you move your mouse one inch. The higher the DPI, the more sensitive the mouse.

Most gaming mouse manufacturers flaunt their mouse’s extraordinarily high DPI as a killer feature, but the truth is, most gamer won’t ever even use a sensitivity higher than about 1,600DPI. Beyond that, in-game movement becomes very hard to control – and to think, some mice can reach a whopping 20,000DPI.